Mike-Shalom Fountain Solicitors

23/03/2024

*YOBE JUDICIAL SERVICE COMMISSION v. AUTA*

(2024) LPELR-61655(CA)

*Issue*
LEGAL PRACTITIONER - STAMP/SEAL -

*_Rationale behind the requirement of affixing stamp and seal on a legal document; instance where it will be held that the requirement was fulfilled_*

*Principle*
"The essence of the requirement that legal practitioners should affix their professional stamps to official or legal documents they prepare, especially for filing in the Court, is to ensure that charlatans or pretenders or frauds are excluded from the practice of the legal profession. See Bello Sarakin Yaki (Rtd.) & Anor. v. Senator Atiku Abubakar Bagudu & Ors. [2015] 18 NWLR (Pt. 1491) 288.

As there is cogent documentary evidence that the respondent's legal practitioner faithfully affixed his professional stamp on one page of the bundle of documents, filed to institute the action, on behalf of the respondent. In my view, the requirement mandated by Rule 10 of the Legal Practitioners Rules of Professional Conduct, 2007 was faithfully complied with and nothing more should be demanded from the respondent.

In the case of Ibrahim v. A. P. C. (No. 1) [2019] 16 (Pt. 1699) 444 at 462-463 (per Eko, J. S. C.), the Court stated, as follows: "The appellant cannot, as it is very apparent from pages 207 (of 28th November, 2018), 209, 212 (of 29th November, 2018), 514 (of 18th January, 2018), and also pages 613, 616, 625, 659 etc., be heard that he did not know that the "Chris Osuagwu", the counsel who settled those processes, is one and the same legal practitioner identified on the stamp and seal as CHRISTOPHER IKECHUKWUOSUAGWU with the Supreme Court enrollment number: SCN048206." Per OLABODE ABIMBOLA ADEGBEHINGBE, JCA (Pp 23 - 25 Paras F - A)

03/03/2023

Account Number: 0191474036
Banker: Union Bank Current Account
Account Name: Mikeshalom Fountain Solicitors

21/02/2023

GOLDEN ADVICE TO ALL JUDGES
By Hon. Justice NIKI TOBI

“I see from Exhibit EP2/34 the need for Nigerian Judges to maintain a very big distance from politics and politicians. Our Constitution forbids any mingling. As Judges, we must obey the Constitution. The two professions do not meet and will never meet at all in our democracy in the discharge of their functions. While politics as a profession is fully and totally based on partiality, most of the time, judgeship as a profession is fully and totally based on impartiality, the opposite of partiality. Bias is the trade mark of politicians. Non-bias is the trade mark of the Judge. That again creates a scenario of superlatives in the realm of opposites. Therefore the expressions, "politician" and "Judge" are opposites, so to say, in their functional contents as above; though not in their ordinary dictionary meaning. Their waters never meet in the same way Rivers Niger and Benue meet at the confluence near Lokoja. If they meet, the victim will be democracy most of the time and that will be bad for sovereign Nigeria. And so Judges should, on no account, dance to the music played by politicians because that will completely destroy their role as independent umpires in the judicial process. Let no Judge flirt with politicians in the performance of their constitutional adjudicatory functions. When I say this, I must also say that I have nothing against politicians. They are our brothers and sisters in our homes. One can hardly find in any Nigerian community or family without them. There cannot be democracy without them and we need democracy; not despotism, oligarchy and totalitarianism. They are jolly good fellows. The only point I am making is that their professional tools are different from ours and the Nigerian Judge should know this before he finds himself or falls into a mirage where he cannot retrace his steps to administer justice. That type of misfortune can fall on him if the National Judicial Council gets annoyed of his conduct. Ours are not theirs. Theirs are not ours. I will not say more. I will not say less too. So be it.”

Niki Tobi, JSC

02/02/2023

15/01/2023

STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT ALONE DOES NOT PROVE INDEBTEDNESS

”…statements of account…alone cannot prove the indebtedness of the customer to the bank.” - SKYE BANK PLC v. KUDUS
(2011) LPELR-4962(CA)
*Happy Sunday*

14/01/2023

IDRIS v. FRN
(2018) LPELR-44713(CA)

ISSUE
PLEA OF GUILT : Whether an accused person convicted on his plea of guilt can turn around and contest his conviction

PRINCIPLE
"In the present appeal, it is pertinent to note that the Appellant at his arrest and arraignment respectively confessed to the commission of the offence and pleaded guilty to same, which consequently led to his trial summarily by the trial Court. Can it be possible for him to turn around now and feign innocence because the offence is not prescribed by any written law or that he did not know that the unlawful possession and sale of Tramadol was criminal??

A similar scenario to this played out in the case of NKIE V FRN (2014) LPELR-22877(SC). Therein, the Appellant was arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at Zaakpim Road Junction in Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State for being in unlawful possession of substances suspected to be co***ne weighing 0.4 grams. The Appellant made a confessional statement and was subsequently arraigned before the Federal High Court on a one-count charge of knowingly being in possession of 0.4 grams of co***ne, a narcotic drug contrary to Section 19 of the NDLEA Act.

Upon arraignment, the Appellant pleaded guilty to the charge. The prosecution thereupon urged the Court to convict the Appellant after tendering the alleged co***ne, the Certificate of test analysis, the Request for scientific aid/analysis, etc. Consequent upon this, the learned trial Judge convicted the Appellant and sentenced him to 18 months imprisonment. Dissatisfied, the Appellant appealed to the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt Division, which affirmed the conviction and dismissed the Appeal.

On a further appeal to the Supreme Court, the conviction was again affirmed. The Apex Court held that a plea of guilty, even in a case of this nature, is valid if made in a very unambiguous and unequivocal way, and same is received by a trial Court. It held further per Okoro, JSC at pages 26-27 that it is trite that where an accused person pleads guilty to the offence against him, the onus placed on the prosecution by law is lifted and the Court can safely convict on his plea. Thus, the Appellant, having voluntarily pleaded guilty to the charge at the trial Court, he cannot now be heard to be making a different case on appeal. He should not be allowed to approbate and reprobate in the same breath. In the present appeal, where the Appellant has pleaded guilty to the charge against him, can he again contest his conviction?

In law, once an accused person had pleaded guilty to a charge as laid against him by the prosecution before a Court of law and consequently convicted on his own plea of guilt, there is generally only two circumstances in which an appeal against conviction upon a guilty plea can be entertained, firstly; that the Appellant did not understand and appreciate the nature of the charge to which he had pleaded guilty or that he did not intend to admit that he was guilty of the offence charged. Secondly, that upon the facts as admitted by the accused person, he could not, in law, have been convicted of the offence charged. See per Onnoghen JSC, now CJN, in NKIE V. FRN (2014) LPELR 22877 (SC). Thus, where an accused person not only pleaded guilty to the charge but made confessional statement which is admitted in evidence without objection, as in the instant case, the burden of proof legally imposed on the prosecution to prove the charge beyond reasonable doubt is made very light indeed. See Per WALTER SAMUEL NKANU ONNOGHEN, J.S.C. now CJN in NKIE V. FRN (2014) LPELR 22877 (SC). The Appellant has failed to show that he has in any way suffered a miscarriage of justice, having been duly convicted on his unambiguous plea of guilty. He cannot therefore be heard to complain now, as it is too late in the day.

I therefore hold that the lower Court rightly convicted the Appellant of the charge which he pleaded guilty to without any reservation. Thus, the judgment of Honourable Justice S. Yahuza of the Federal High Court Sitting in Dutse, Jigawa State, in Charge No. FHC/DT/CR/37/2017, delivered on 3/5/2017, wherein the Appellant was convicted and sentenced to 2 years imprisonment for possession of 99 grams of Tramadol tablets, a psychotropic substance without lawful authority stands. The appeal is hereby dismissed." Per ABBA AJI, J.C.A. (Pp. 12-16, Paras. D-A).

29/07/2022

*SPEECH DELIVERED BY RT HON YAKUBU DOGARA, GUEST SPEAKER AT THE APC NORTHERN CHRISTIAN LEADERS SUMMIT, ABUJA 2022 ON THE THEME, “RIGHTEOUSNESS EXALTS A NATION, BUT SIN IS A REPROACH TO ANY PEOPLE”,* *HELD ON FRIDAY 29TH JULY, 2022 AT THE NICON LUXURY HOTEL, ABUJA*

Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. Proverbs 14:34

Protocols:

1. I consider it great honour and privilege to be invited as the Guest Speaker at this all-important August summit of eminent religious leaders and top-notch politicians from across all the States of the Federation. Permit me to start by profusely thanking all those involved in putting together this summit and all the delegates who have sacrificed time and their busy schedule in order to honour us with their presence, which we do not lightly esteem. I understand we are here to talk about our nation and how political choices may impact our faith and likely exacerbate the escalating parlous security situation and stymie our match towards an inclusive, peaceful and prosperous nation.

2. Not a few have expressed concerns about national outlook on all presidential tickets. Also, not a few worry that the debate was becoming corrosive, and of course, with this kind of spitting of bilious views into the political wind, there was bound to be lots of nerves in the air.

3. When we talk about a Muslim-Muslim ticket; God forbid that we should be understood to be objecting to Muslims or that we don’t want Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to be president. It is not about Senator Kashim Shettima either, but it about what is right and what is wrong. It is about justice, fairness and equity. It is about Nigeria; it’s diversity and how it can be harnessed in an inclusive manner for the greater good of all of us. Be that as it may, some of us really wanted Asiwaju to be president because he has sacrificed much for our Party, the APC and for what he represents to so many people. So, our position cannot be against Muslims or Islam. That fact cannot be denied in any way.

4. But when it comes to choosing between the love and admiration I have for an individual and what is right and what I believe represents my vision for Nigeria, my choice will clearly be for the latter. After all, my rise to the position of Speaker was never going to be possible without the support of some Muslim members who believe that our diversity must be reflected in national positions for the unity, peace and advancement of our dear country. What gives me more hope about the Nigeria project is that there are many of our Muslim brothers and leaders who did not only warn the APC, but have had to call out the APC for adopting a Muslim-Muslim ticket which resulted into the Party ructions we are witnessing today.

5. In 2015, when we were called “janjeweed party”, my response was usually very simple. I could then say that, HE John Oyegun was the chairman of my party and my Vice-Presidential candidate was Pastor Yemi Osinbajo. We don’t enjoy that luxury anymore as the President, Senate President, Speaker and his deputy; Senate and House Leaders; National Chairman and the Deputy National Chairman; Presidential and the Vice-Presidential candidates are all Muslims, leaving the Christians with just the position of VP Osibanjo and Deputy Senate President Omo-Agege at that level in a Country whose population is fairly split between Muslims and Christians. Granted this scenario, can any God-fearing Muslim, Christian nay even the amoral and the atheist say this is fair, just and righteous? Does this represent the act of a just God? This is the real context of objections from the Christian community not just the Presidential ticket and the VP slot.

6. For me, it is a rude awakening and I am so happy it happened sooner than later. The very fact that they said we should not worry about a Muslim-Muslim ticket while a Muslim-Christian ticket gave them sleepless nights should make you worry the more. To worry about a Muslim-Christian ticket while counselling others not to worry about a Muslim-Muslim ticket is the very textbook definition of cognitive dissonance and an attempt at gaslighting gullible Christians. Truth must be told that anyone who is not bringing us together is consciously tearing us apart.

7. Furthermore, I do not want to speak to the argument that there is no Christian competent enough to be Vice-President because as we all know, that is hogwash. It only speaks to the need to deliberately exclude - whereas the need now is for inclusion.

8. The other funny argument in the media is the claim that without a northern Muslim on the ticket, elections cannot be won. The implications of that argument are quite unambiguous; Northern Muslims don’t vote for the South - even if the candidate is a Muslim like them - and, of course, don’t vote for Christians. However, nothing can be further from the truth. If you stretch this argument further, it may lead to questions such as, “if Muslims in the North don’t trust a southern Muslim for any reason(s), why should Christians in Nigeria trust a Muslim from the South and North?” These are the kinds of arguments I hate to engage in and which we must avoid if we hope not to injure the health of our Republic.

9. Other unhelpful framings of the debate by the so-called pundits posits that Christians in the North are so small in number that their votes don’t count. This strange argument seeks to reinforce the satanic agenda of dividing the church in Nigeria into North and South, and also ignores the fact and reality that Nigeria is evenly split on religious lines. These pundits are still not smart enough to tell us what is in the Muslim-Muslim ticket for southern Christians. The argument also ignores the fact that our official policy excludes religious affiliation from census data. There is therefore no scientific basis for these bizarre conclusions. Let us now look at a model for managing diversity.

10. If the UK offers any example, in 2005, the Tories had only two non-White MPs. Just within over a decade, this has changed dramatically - all the way to the top ranks of the party, including the last three chancellors of the exchequer in a row: Javid, Sunak and Zahawi. In addition, Patel was home secretary; Javid - health secretary; Kwasi - business secretary and; Zahawi - education secretary.

11. Before the pruning down of candidates for the Conservative Party leadership to two; six of the candidates were members of ethnic minorities. Braverman, Sunak and Javid are the children of immigrants while Chisti and Zahawi were born outside of the UK: in Pakistan and Iraq respectively; and our own Kemi was partly brought up in Lagos. All these happened in the conservative UK where the entire population of minority ethnic group is a paltry 14% - thanks to David Cameron under whose leadership the Tories embraced the idea of “sponsored mobility” which was thought to be good for the country because it will help prevent politics from polarizing along racial lines.

12. As we speak, the UK may well be on the verge of becoming the second major Western democracy to have a non-White leader in Sunak. Sunak who took the oath of office as Chancellor with his hand on the Bhagavad Gita and placed Diwali candles on the steps of his office on Number 11 Downing Street, shares the same faith with just 1.03 million Britons representing just 1.6% of the U.K’s total population. This is how democracies all over the world are managing diversities within their borders. Compare this to the US under Trump where the Republican Party was and is still in danger of becoming the party of White grievances and White reaction against an increasingly diverse America. Is it in vain that the Democrats had to settle for a woman and a black VP in Kamala Harris? Women issues are treated as minority issues and what percentage of US population is black? Just 13.4% in case you don’t know. In these two, we have two models to borrow from; either to play the politics of exclusion which the Muslim-Muslim ticket represents or to make politics all-inclusive in order to heal our national fault lines and unite our disparate peoples for nation building. The latter must be the choice of every patriotic and sensible Nigerian.

13. Why do I consider the decision by the APC to settle for a Muslim-Muslim ticket not a bold but bad decision? There are ample reasons but I will highlight a few for want of time and space.

a) It is a bad decision because it fuels inequality. We must always bear in mind that the liberty we enjoy is as rare as it is fragile. Inequality has a way of upsetting the balance due to the universal law of cause and effect. Throughout history, every revolution has been waged to either consolidate or destroy inequality. Just like all revolutions, they first seem impossible and then improbable until they become inevitable.

i) When you think of revolutions, what comes to your mind? Is it the pictures of savage invasions, crushing battlefield defeats, sacked cities and unlucky rulers put to death or a cascading series of minor, individually unimportant failures which are now replete in our polity? You may not understand the structure of revolutions until you trace the progression of the N***s from an unpopular fringe group to the most powerful political party in Germany. Those who are dismissive of those who built conflict generating structures such as the Muslim-Muslim ticket in a pluralistic society always end up as enablers of revolution or violent changes. That was how N***sm was dismissed as a fringe idea that will never make it into the mainstream of civilized Germany until it led to the death of an estimated 40 million people.

b) It is a bad decision because it breads division which is counter-productive to our collective aspirations for a united and prosperous nation. My last check reveals that the word division is a construct of the word “vision” with a prefix “di” which means double in Latin. Just imagine what double vision does to an individual, much more a Nation. Our national creed or motto if you like, is unity and faith, peace and progress. Embedded in this great idea is the fact that unity precedes peace and progress. The question therefore is, how do we unite our disparate peoples in a manner that ensures peace and progress? This is not the only question, it is every question.

i) Of course, our strength is not in numbers but unity. You are not strong because you are many, you are strong because you are united. Nigeria cannot survive if we merely tolerate each other or if the happiness of one group is the unhappiness of the other group. But if we are united, we will be indomitable. And if all of us: Muslims, Christians, atheists, the old, the young, women and men work together and pray together in unity: believe me; we will be invincible. On the corollary, many are the Nations and Empires that could not withstand divisions.

ii) The largest construction project ever on earth - the er****on of the Tower of Babel came to an abrupt halt due to divisions. The almost 3200 years long recorded history of the Egyptian empire collapsed due to divisions when Cleopatra the last Pharaoh killed her brother Ptolemy the 13th who was a joint heir to the throne and married another of her brother, Ptolemy the 14th before she had him also killed so that her son can succeed her as the pharaoh. The all-powerful Roman Empire just like the British Empire after it, decayed and died not on account of invading armies but just because they could not withstand the contradictions within. Need we say more about Yugoslavia and the USSR?

iii) The US too is currently struggling and if they don’t invent ingenious ways to heal divisions, the US dominance, just like all the other empires before, might soon become history. If we think we can encourage divisions in the scale we are witnessing and not see what those Empires and Nations saw, then we are of all men and women most miserable.

c) In addition, the inability to distinguish the Nigeria of 1993 from 2022 gave me cause to fret the more. An indispensable attribute of a leader in crisis is to be able to recognize a departure of events from routine to novel. The inability to spot an infliction point in moments of gripping visceral fear across the nation represents an irredeemable fatal error of judgment. There has never been a time in our history that we are as divided. We are battling terrorism, banditry, kidnapping for ransom, secessionists and all manner of challenges.

Consequently, anyone who thinks that events in Nigeria in 2022 are not novel but routine as they were in 1993 is totally incapable of finding solutions to challenges currently ravaging our dear nation.

14. As for the nodding dogs who have sold themselves to lying spirits by deliberately believing in lies or are refusing to accept the truth, rebuke them in love. We may, after all, be dealing with fallen angels. We must never forget that every generation has its own Jannes and Jambres who withstood Moses; its prophets of Baal who withstood Elijah; its Sanballats and Tobiahs who withstood Nehemiah; it’s Esaus whose profanity will drive them to sell their birth rights; its Gehazis who will surrender to seducing spirits in order to feed their greed; its Hamans who will plot to annihilate Gods people: the list goes on. On this class of people, the scripture has already placed a curse, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” Isaiah 5:20. But just as those they withstood overcame, we will also overcome if we faint not.

15. The harder they try to make us bow to the golden image of greed, the more we should chant to their chagrin the answer given by Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego - who said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up”.

16. In closing, let me reiterate the fact that we are here to talk about what is right and what is wrong. To my mind what is right is not just to win elections but to unite Nigerians both now and after the elections so that we can collectively build a Nigeria that works for all regardless of creed. As President Obama warned, “if you have to win a campaign by dividing people, you are not going to be able to govern them. You won’t be able to unite them later” This is spot-on because anyone who wins an election by dividing us would have to keep us divided in order to govern us. This is not what any reasonable and peace-loving Nigerian wants.

17. As long as God remains the God of justice, may we continue to resist injustice to our sinews, no matter who is for or against it because it is the requirement of the just God. Let us go out from this summit with the resolve to seek out our Muslim brothers and sisters who believe in unifying our people in order to usher in the much need peace and advancement for Nigeria to unleash her true potentials. I am sure we will jointly agree on a platform that would advance our collective search for unity, peace and development. Believe me, the only alternative is the road to Yugoslavia. God forbid! If we want to see Nigeria exalted, we must insist she does the right things.

18. Thank you for listening. God bless you and may God bless Nigeria.

Rt Hon Yakubu Dogara
Speaker of the 8th House of Reps.*SPEECH DELIVERED BY RT HON YAKUBU DOGARA, GUEST SPEAKER AT THE APC NORTHERN CHRISTIAN LEADERS SUMMIT, ABUJA 2022 ON THE THEME, “RIGHTEOUSNESS EXALTS A NATION, BUT SIN IS A REPROACH TO ANY PEOPLE”,* *HELD ON FRIDAY 29TH JULY, 2022 AT THE NICON LUXURY HOTEL, ABUJA*

Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. Proverbs 14:34

Protocols:

1. I consider it great honour and privilege to be invited as the Guest Speaker at this all-important August summit of eminent religious leaders and top-notch politicians from across all the States of the Federation. Permit me to start by profusely thanking all those involved in putting together this summit and all the delegates who have sacrificed time and their busy schedule in order to honour us with their presence, which we do not lightly esteem. I understand we are here to talk about our nation and how political choices may impact our faith and likely exacerbate the escalating parlous security situation and stymie our match towards an inclusive, peaceful and prosperous nation.

2. Not a few have expressed concerns about national outlook on all presidential tickets. Also, not a few worry that the debate was becoming corrosive, and of course, with this kind of spitting of bilious views into the political wind, there was bound to be lots of nerves in the air.

3. When we talk about a Muslim-Muslim ticket; God forbid that we should be understood to be objecting to Muslims or that we don’t want Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to be president. It is not about Senator Kashim Shettima either, but it about what is right and what is wrong. It is about justice, fairness and equity. It is about Nigeria; it’s diversity and how it can be harnessed in an inclusive manner for the greater good of all of us. Be that as it may, some of us really wanted Asiwaju to be president because he has sacrificed much for our Party, the APC and for what he represents to so many people. So, our position cannot be against Muslims or Islam. That fact cannot be denied in any way.

4. But when it comes to choosing between the love and admiration I have for an individual and what is right and what I believe represents my vision for Nigeria, my choice will clearly be for the latter. After all, my rise to the position of Speaker was never going to be possible without the support of some Muslim members who believe that our diversity must be reflected in national positions for the unity, peace and advancement of our dear country. What gives me more hope about the Nigeria project is that there are many of our Muslim brothers and leaders who did not only warn the APC, but have had to call out the APC for adopting a Muslim-Muslim ticket which resulted into the Party ructions we are witnessing today.

5. In 2015, when we were called “janjeweed party”, my response was usually very simple. I could then say that, HE John Oyegun was the chairman of my party and my Vice-Presidential candidate was Pastor Yemi Osinbajo. We don’t enjoy that luxury anymore as the President, Senate President, Speaker and his deputy; Senate and House Leaders; National Chairman and the Deputy National Chairman; Presidential and the Vice-Presidential candidates are all Muslims, leaving the Christians with just the position of VP Osibanjo and Deputy Senate President Omo-Agege at that level in a Country whose population is fairly split between Muslims and Christians. Granted this scenario, can any God-fearing Muslim, Christian nay even the amoral and the atheist say this is fair, just and righteous? Does this represent the act of a just God? This is the real context of objections from the Christian community not just the Presidential ticket and the VP slot.

6. For me, it is a rude awakening and I am so happy it happened sooner than later. The very fact that they said we should not worry about a Muslim-Muslim ticket while a Muslim-Christian ticket gave them sleepless nights should make you worry the more. To worry about a Muslim-Christian ticket while counselling others not to worry about a Muslim-Muslim ticket is the very textbook definition of cognitive dissonance and an attempt at gaslighting gullible Christians. Truth must be told that anyone who is not bringing us together is consciously tearing us apart.

7. Furthermore, I do not want to speak to the argument that there is no Christian competent enough to be Vice-President because as we all know, that is hogwash. It only speaks to the need to deliberately exclude - whereas the need now is for inclusion.

8. The other funny argument in the media is the claim that without a northern Muslim on the ticket, elections cannot be won. The implications of that argument are quite unambiguous; Northern Muslims don’t vote for the South - even if the candidate is a Muslim like them - and, of course, don’t vote for Christians. However, nothing can be further from the truth. If you stretch this argument further, it may lead to questions such as, “if Muslims in the North don’t trust a southern Muslim for any reason(s), why should Christians in Nigeria trust a Muslim from the South and North?” These are the kinds of arguments I hate to engage in and which we must avoid if we hope not to injure the health of our Republic.

9. Other unhelpful framings of the debate by the so-called pundits posits that Christians in the North are so small in number that their votes don’t count. This strange argument seeks to reinforce the satanic agenda of dividing the church in Nigeria into North and South, and also ignores the fact and reality that Nigeria is evenly split on religious lines. These pundits are still not smart enough to tell us what is in the Muslim-Muslim ticket for southern Christians. The argument also ignores the fact that our official policy excludes religious affiliation from census data. There is therefore no scientific basis for these bizarre conclusions. Let us now look at a model for managing diversity.

10. If the UK offers any example, in 2005, the Tories had only two non-White MPs. Just within over a decade, this has changed dramatically - all the way to the top ranks of the party, including the last three chancellors of the exchequer in a row: Javid, Sunak and Zahawi. In addition, Patel was home secretary; Javid - health secretary; Kwasi - business secretary and; Zahawi - education secretary.

11. Before the pruning down of candidates for the Conservative Party leadership to two; six of the candidates were members of ethnic minorities. Braverman, Sunak and Javid are the children of immigrants while Chisti and Zahawi were born outside of the UK: in Pakistan and Iraq respectively; and our own Kemi was partly brought up in Lagos. All these happened in the conservative UK where the entire population of minority ethnic group is a paltry 14% - thanks to David Cameron under whose leadership the Tories embraced the idea of “sponsored mobility” which was thought to be good for the country because it will help prevent politics from polarizing along racial lines.

12. As we speak, the UK may well be on the verge of becoming the second major Western democracy to have a non-White leader in Sunak. Sunak who took the oath of office as Chancellor with his hand on the Bhagavad Gita and placed Diwali candles on the steps of his office on Number 11 Downing Street, shares the same faith with just 1.03 million Britons representing just 1.6% of the U.K’s total population. This is how democracies all over the world are managing diversities within their borders. Compare this to the US under Trump where the Republican Party was and is still in danger of becoming the party of White grievances and White reaction against an increasingly diverse America. Is it in vain that the Democrats had to settle for a woman and a black VP in Kamala Harris? Women issues are treated as minority issues and what percentage of US population is black? Just 13.4% in case you don’t know. In these two, we have two models to borrow from; either to play the politics of exclusion which the Muslim-Muslim ticket represents or to make politics all-inclusive in order to heal our national fault lines and unite our disparate peoples for nation building. The latter must be the choice of every patriotic and sensible Nigerian.

13. Why do I consider the decision by the APC to settle for a Muslim-Muslim ticket not a bold but bad decision? There are ample reasons but I will highlight a few for want of time and space.

a) It is a bad decision because it fuels inequality. We must always bear in mind that the liberty we enjoy is as rare as it is fragile. Inequality has a way of upsetting the balance due to the universal law of cause and effect. Throughout history, every revolution has been waged to either consolidate or destroy inequality. Just like all revolutions, they first seem impossible and then improbable until they become inevitable.

i) When you think of revolutions, what comes to your mind? Is it the pictures of savage invasions, crushing battlefield defeats, sacked cities and unlucky rulers put to death or a cascading series of minor, individually unimportant failures which are now replete in our polity? You may not understand the structure of revolutions until you trace the progression of the N***s from an unpopular fringe group to the most powerful political party in Germany. Those who are dismissive of those who built conflict generating structures such as the Muslim-Muslim ticket in a pluralistic society always end up as enablers of revolution or violent changes. That was how N***sm was dismissed as a fringe idea that will never make it into the mainstream of civilized Germany until it led to the death of an estimated 40 million people.

b) It is a bad decision because it breads division which is counter-productive to our collective aspirations for a united and prosperous nation. My last check reveals that the word division is a construct of the word “vision” with a prefix “di” which means double in Latin. Just imagine what double vision does to an individual, much more a Nation. Our national creed or motto if you like, is unity and faith, peace and progress. Embedded in this great idea is the fact that unity precedes peace and progress. The question therefore is, how do we unite our disparate peoples in a manner that ensures peace and progress? This is not the only question, it is every question.

i) Of course, our strength is not in numbers but unity. You are not strong because you are many, you are strong because you are united. Nigeria cannot survive if we merely tolerate each other or if the happiness of one group is the unhappiness of the other group. But if we are united, we will be indomitable. And if all of us: Muslims, Christians, atheists, the old, the young, women and men work together and pray together in unity: believe me; we will be invincible. On the corollary, many are the Nations and Empires that could not withstand divisions.

ii) The largest construction project ever on earth - the er****on of the Tower of Babel came to an abrupt halt due to divisions. The almost 3200 years long recorded history of the Egyptian empire collapsed due to divisions when Cleopatra the last Pharaoh killed her brother Ptolemy the 13th who was a joint heir to the throne and married another of her brother, Ptolemy the 14th before she had him also killed so that her son can succeed her as the pharaoh. The all-powerful Roman Empire just like the British Empire after it, decayed and died not on account of invading armies but just because they could not withstand the contradictions within. Need we say more about Yugoslavia and the USSR?

iii) The US too is currently struggling and if they don’t invent ingenious ways to heal divisions, the US dominance, just like all the other empires before, might soon become history. If we think we can encourage divisions in the scale we are witnessing and not see what those Empires and Nations saw, then we are of all men and women most miserable.

c) In addition, the inability to distinguish the Nigeria of 1993 from 2022 gave me cause to fret the more. An indispensable attribute of a leader in crisis is to be able to recognize a departure of events from routine to novel. The inability to spot an infliction point in moments of gripping visceral fear across the nation represents an irredeemable fatal error of judgment. There has never been a time in our history that we are as divided. We are battling terrorism, banditry, kidnapping for ransom, secessionists and all manner of challenges.

Consequently, anyone who thinks that events in Nigeria in 2022 are not novel but routine as they were in 1993 is totally incapable of finding solutions to challenges currently ravaging our dear nation.

14. As for the nodding dogs who have sold themselves to lying spirits by deliberately believing in lies or are refusing to accept the truth, rebuke them in love. We may, after all, be dealing with fallen angels. We must never forget that every generation has its own Jannes and Jambres who withstood Moses; its prophets of Baal who withstood Elijah; its Sanballats and Tobiahs who withstood Nehemiah; it’s Esaus whose profanity will drive them to sell their birth rights; its Gehazis who will surrender to seducing spirits in order to feed their greed; its Hamans who will plot to annihilate Gods people: the list goes on. On this class of people, the scripture has already placed a curse, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” Isaiah 5:20. But just as those they withstood overcame, we will also overcome if we faint not.

15. The harder they try to make us bow to the golden image of greed, the more we should chant to their chagrin the answer given by Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego - who said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up”.

16. In closing, let me reiterate the fact that we are here to talk about what is right and what is wrong. To my mind what is right is not just to win elections but to unite Nigerians both now and after the elections so that we can collectively build a Nigeria that works for all regardless of creed. As President Obama warned, “if you have to win a campaign by dividing people, you are not going to be able to govern them. You won’t be able to unite them later” This is spot-on because anyone who wins an election by dividing us would have to keep us divided in order to govern us. This is not what any reasonable and peace-loving Nigerian wants.

17. As long as God remains the God of justice, may we continue to resist injustice to our sinews, no matter who is for or against it because it is the requirement of the just God. Let us go out from this summit with the resolve to seek out our Muslim brothers and sisters who believe in unifying our people in order to usher in the much need peace and advancement for Nigeria to unleash her true potentials. I am sure we will jointly agree on a platform that would advance our collective search for unity, peace and development. Believe me, the only alternative is the road to Yugoslavia. God forbid! If we want to see Nigeria exalted, we must insist she does the right things.

18. Thank you for listening. God bless you and may God bless Nigeria.

Rt Hon Yakubu Dogara
Speaker of the 8th House of Reps.